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Once you’ve mastered some of the easy card tricks found in the best card trick books for beginners like The Royal Road to Card Magic, Roberto Giobbi’s Card College and Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic, you’ll probably be ready to take the next step in your card magic journey. Well, you’re in the right place!
This article will concentrate on intermediate magic tricks, but we also have information oncard magic basics, prop bets, money magic, [mentalism](/mentalism], card magic, sleight of hand, playing cards (we recommend Bicycle cards, and Zoom magic. We're the world's largest magic store so we can help you with everything from flash paper to magic books. At our magic conventions and on these pages, we'll show you the right way to learn magic tricks and how to learn card tricks. But today, we're talking what happens when you're ready to go beyond the beginner stuff.
Here’s a list compiled by Vanishing Inc.’s team of professional magicians of the best magic books to learn card tricks that are more intermediate and advanced.
Written by S. W. Erdnase (whose true identity remains a mystery in the magic community), The Expert at the Card Table is one of the most famous card magic books in the world and is regularly listed as a must-read for any serious card magician. In fact, many professional card magicians refer to The Expert at the Card Table as the “bible” of card magic and card tricks.
From forcing cards to palming cards, controlling cards, false deals, and everything in between, this comprehensive book is designed to help magicians become master card magicians. Many of the amazing card tricks and card mechanics it teaches are still as relevant today as they were when it was written over a century ago.
Written by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue, the same authors of The Royal Road to Card Magic—one of the best books for beginners in card magic—Expert Card Technique contains some of the strongest card magic ever printed. It offers everything from basic card manipulations such as jogs or glimpses to advanced card tricks and techniques such as the famous Rising Card trick, the Classic Pass, Breather Crimps and much more.
While his popular books on magic theory Strong Magic and Designing Miracles are often suggested as one of the top 10 books every magician should read, many magicians argue that At the Card Table might actually be the best book Darwin Ortiz has ever written. Jam-packed with more than 30 professional quality card magic and gambling routines that have been refined over decades of performances, this massive collection of amazing card tricks should be on the bookshelf of any serious card magician.
Besides maybe Dai Vernon, it would be hard to find anyone more influential on the world of card magic than Ed Marlo. Revolutionary Card Technique is the most comprehensive compilation of Ed Marlo’s card tricks and card sleights ever produced. It offers more than 500 pages of invaluable information for any card magician. Featuring his work on the Side Steal, Faro Shuffle, false deals and much more, the advanced techniques taught in this great book can help any card worker take their card magic to the next level.
Over his unbelievable career, legendary American magician Harry Lorayane has inspired generations of magicians with his massive catalog of books detailing his innovations in card magic. It’s hard to choose just one but, to this day, many professional magicians agree that Close-up Card Magic is one of the most influential card magic books ever written.
Close-up Card Magic features a variety of mind-blowing card magic routines and card sleights including Lorayne’s version of the classic “Out of this World” card magic trick by Paul Curry known as “Out of this Universe”, his work on The Spread Card Control and the introduction of the Lorayne Card Force. There are also contributions from some of the greatest minds in magic such as Dai Vernon, Alex Elmsley, Ken Krenzel, Herb Zarrow and many others.
Master card magician and sleight of hand artist Guy Hollingworth’s Drawing Room Deceptions is filled with some of the most original card magic ever created. Uninterested in simply performing magic tricks created by other magicians, Guy Hollingworth dedicated more than a decade of his life to carefully studying the art of close-up card magic. This endeavor led to the development of an impressive arsenal of sophisticated and distinct card magic tricks and sleight of hand moves that advanced card magicians can discover in this popular card magic book.
Despite being the shortest book on this list, Williamson’s Wonders by Richard Kaufman is bursting with a wide array of innovative and commercial magic tricks created by legendary magician David Williamson. This book introduced the magic community to modern classics such as David Williamson’s “51 Cards to Pocket” and the “Three Card Trick”, which are still used regularly by professional magicians to this day.
Long before he fooled Penn and Teller on their hit TV show Fool Us with his mind-blowing card trick Out of Sight, world-renowned magician Joshua Jay embarked on a massive exploration of card magic and compiled his findings in Joshua Jay’s Amazing Book of Cards. Examining nearly anything related to a deck of cards from intermediate and advanced card tricks and sleight of hand to shuffling cards, false shuffles, bar bets and scams, cheating at cards, the history of playing cards and card tricks, card flourishes and so much more, this card magic book offers something for every intermediate and advanced card magician.
Compiling four of his earliest books and including iconic card magic tricks like “Shuffle-Bored”, Simon Aronson’s Bound to Please is a must-read for any card magician. However, for this list, we’re going to focus specifically on one section called A Stack to Remember. A memorized deck of cards is a powerful tool in the arsenal of any advanced card magician or mentalist and Simon Aronson’s A Stack to Remember is one of the most essential resources for memorizing a stacked deck and using it for card magic.
For many years, the “Aronson Stack” was the most popular stacked deck used by professional magicians. That was until Spanish Magician Juan Tamariz, arguably one of the best magicians in the world, introduced his own deck stack with his book Mnemonica. Both the “Tamariz Stack” and “Aronson Stack” offer their own unique advantages and serious card magicians are encouraged to read both books and see which stack works best for them. Most memorized deck work does not rely on using a particular stack and both books contain powerful magic tricks that you can perform with either stack.
If you need even more suggestions, we’ve also compiled the Top 10 Card Tricks and Top 10 Books on Card Tricks sold on Vanishing Inc. this year.
Every card magician needs an awesome deck of cards. Here’s 20 of the most stylish custom playing cards available today. If these aren’t what you’re looking for, don’t worry! We have a deck of cards to suit any style on our dedicated Vanishing Inc. Playing Cards website.
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